[00:00:00] Speaker A: I now can sing since I've been redeemed I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock I faith in Christ my Redeemer King I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock Then row, row pillows Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Sing them over again to me Wonderful, wonderful words of life Let me more of their beauty see Wonderful words of life Words of life and beauty Teach me faith and duty Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Christ the blessed One gives to all Wonderful words of life Sinnerless to His loving call Wonderful words of words of life all so freely given Wooing us to heaven Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Sweetly echo the gospel call Wonderful words of life Offer pardon and peace to all Wonderful words of life Jesus only Savior sanctify us forever Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, Wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Are you interested in learning about the future?
Humanity always seems to be intrigued with what lies ahead.
There have been many futuristic and sci fi novels written imagining what life will be like a hundred years from now.
I'm thankful that I don't know everything that will happen in the future.
I'm Anthony, your host for the Voice of Hope and I'm here to tell you how there is one thing we do know about God's plans. He has told us that he will draw all peoples to Himself during the last times.
And we are receiving reports of this happening in some of the most difficult places in the world. One of them is Afghanistan, where people are seeking out Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and even desiring baptism.
God is certainly doing a work in the graveyard of empires and Heralds of Hope has a unique opportunity to begin broadcasting in two more languages in addition to the two we already broadcast into this area.
Please pray for this as well as these dear unreached people that they would hear the Gospel in a way that they can understand now. In today's episode of the Voice of Hope, our Bible teacher Jmar Horst is going to be leading us in a study in Revelation with several key insights into the composition of this book.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: As you know, in most books or works of literature, the final chapter or chapters contain the conclusion of the plot lines that had been introduced throughout the book. And usually things come together at the end of the book in a way that is understandable and coherent.
Now, while the Holy Scriptures are unique among all the world's literature because they're inspired by God. They're God breathed. The scriptures also follow this pattern.
So think about the first two chapters of Genesis. They record the creation of the world and they introduce the main characters in the storyline.
In this initial creation, everything is perfect.
But then Satan enters the picture and Adam disobeys an explicit command from God not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil.
And so From Genesis chapter 3 to Revelation chapter 20, the consequences of man's rebellion against God are recorded for us.
And mingled among the misery and the death and the destruction that results from sin, there are these promises of the eventual coming of the Redeemer. And these promises provide hope for something better.
The final two chapters of the Book of Revelation mirror the perfection of Eden. After God destroys evil and fully redeems those who worship him. And then he will restore the earth and the heavens to their original design.
Thinking about the Book of Revelation, God's last book, reminds us that last words are often words that we cherish in a special way.
As believers, we revere Jesus Final words after his resurrection, just before he ascended to heaven, he gave us what we often call the Great Commission, the command to make disciples of all people. And he also promised that he would be with us until the end of the age.
In the Book of Revelation, we have the final words of Jesus which are included in the canon of Holy Scripture.
They are the words that are given to us after his earthly ministry was completed and he had ascended to his Father.
In this book, he has a final message for his people.
The opening verses are a fitting introduction to God's last book. That's the title of my teaching today. And the text that we're going to look at is Revelation, chapter one and verses one through three.
Here are those divinely inspired the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants to things which must shortly take place.
And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.
These verses offer several insights into the composition of God's last book. And these insights hopefully will strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ.
The first insight that I see is the intent of the book.
Why was this book written? Well, before we go there, let me say this. Some people shy away from reading or teaching from the Book of Revelation. Maybe You've met some people like that.
They say it's too confusing, it's too hard to understand, it's too divisive.
But I have a question. Why would God give us a portion of Scripture like that?
That view of this book contradicts my understanding about the God of the Bible.
The letter that John wrote to the churches in Revelation was not meant to obscure things.
No, it was just the opposite. It was intended to reveal something.
It was designed to comfort and encourage followers of Jesus who were experiencing a time of great persecution.
The good news is that Jesus would ultimately triumph over evil and he would bring judgment on the wicked.
You know, this is not difficult.
The intent of this book is clearly spelled out in the opening phrase.
I read it. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, there is some debate among scholars about the use of the preposition of.
It could be translated as either about or from.
So the book's content is revealed to Jesus by God, from Jesus to the angel, to John by the angel, and then finally to us.
It all originates from God.
It also reveals to us Jesus unique ministry in the things that are yet to come.
The word revelation in the original is apokalupsis in English, a word you've probably heard before. Apocalypse now, this may surprise you, but despite our contemporary way of using this word, in biblical usage, the word apocalypse isn't about a world ending disaster. And it has no connection with zombies.
It simply means to unveil or uncover something that is hidden.
This word is only used one other time in the New Testament in Luke 2:32, where Simeon quotes from the prophet Isaiah and he declares Jesus to be a light to bring revelation. Apokalupsis to the Gentiles.
The ministry of Jesus and the apostles would unveil the inclusion of the Gentiles into God's spiritual family.
Its Hebrew equivalent is used in Numbers 22:31, where God uncovered, as you may remember, Balaam's eyes so he could see that destroying angel that was barring his way. Remember, the donkey saw it and he stopped and Balaam got angry. The donkey could see more than Balaam could until the Lord uncovered Balaam's eyes. And so when that happened, immediately Balaam fell flat on his face because he realized he was in the presence of of deity.
And so, as we will see, John's response was similar to Balaam's when he received a revelation from Jesus.
While this revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ, that doesn't mean that the entire letter is easily understood.
That's because apocalyptic literature is a distinct genre that requires careful study to comprehend its meaning.
Here's just one example.
Because John was writing during a time of intense persecution, he disguised his references to the Roman government in picturesque terms.
Why did he do that? He didn't want to seem to be seditious.
And so in this way, his writings are like the way Daniel recorded the prophecies that God gave to him.
So the intent of the Book of Revelation is clear.
It is the unveiling of Christ and his plans for the culmination of human history as we know it.
There's another insight into God's last book, and it is the content. The content of the book.
I want to note here the close connection between God the Father and Jesus.
God gave this revelation to Jesus for a specific purpose.
And interestingly, Jesus highlighted this closeness with the Father. Seven times in the Gospel of John, he spoke the words of God under the authority of God.
And as you may know, seven and multiples of seven are very common in this Book of Revelation.
The revelation of Jesus Christ is not primarily the manifestation or disclosure of him. We already have that in the Gospels.
For example, you can look at John 1:14.
This is the revelation given by Jesus to John.
He is the great revealer. He is the author of the revelation that is the unveiling.
However, we do see Jesus in a new light. We learn things about him that we didn't see in the Gospels, because in his glorified state, he functions in ways that weren't part of his earthly ministry.
God gave Jesus this revelation to unveil and to show to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass or soon come to pass. They must. That's a decree of the absolute, infallible God soon take place. This is the scope of the content of the book.
And since God alone can know the future, we can only conclude that this is predictive prophecy.
And the grammar is interesting here because it indicates a complete fulfillment of the things prophesied, not just their beginning. In other words, these things must shortly come to pass in their entirety.
However, the time is relative, and that time is determined by God's clock, not hours.
We see this similarly in Luke 8. 8. Let me share this with you. God promises justice for his chosen ones. He says, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?
And so the promise is for speedy vengeance. But then the second sentence implies that there could be a lengthy delay.
And then in 2 Peter 3:8, the apostle contrasts time from our perspective versus God's perspective, he says, a thousand years are like one day to him.
So while the time may be distant, when these things that are prophesied begin, then they will come to pass in rapid succession without delay.
And then further, Jesus sent and signified this message to John through his angel in this context, to signify something meant to verify its authenticity.
You may recall the Pharisees in their interactions with Jesus. They demanded a sign from him to prove that he was Messiah.
He rebuked them for their unbelief. And he told them, there will be no sign for you.
But then in Matthew 12:39, 40, he gave the experience of the prophet Jonah as a sign.
And in John 12:33, he said, and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die.
These were not signs or tokens meant to satisfy the curious, but they were rather meant to authenticate his ministry to those who truly believed and followed him.
So here, verification of the unveiling was Christ sending his angel to John.
There was no doubt in John's mind about the source and the veracity of this revelation.
This was not his own word. These were the inspired words of God delivered by Jesus Christ through the angel.
The prophet Daniel had similar experiences with God's messengers and with prophetic messages.
Now, one of the unique aspects of this book's content is its connection to the Old Testament.
Warren Wiersbe has calculated that of the 404 verses in the book of Revelation, 278 of them contain references to the Old Testament.
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel provide the bulk of those references.
In his commentary on the Book of Daniel, the late John Wolverd states that Daniel's prophecy is the key to understanding prophetic revelation.
And indeed, as we will see in our study, there are many similarities between the visions and descriptions and conclusions of both of these books.
By one author's count, there are 34 allusions to Daniel, chapter seven. Scattered throughout the Book of Revelation.
John testifies of the prophetic word given by God and witnessed by Jesus Christ.
More than 40 times in this book, John says, I saw. And 28 times he says, I heard.
Now we all know that hearing and seeing are two primary senses that we use in learning.
The things John heard and saw were given by God through Jesus Christ.
John was an eyewitness.
The content of God's last book is well verified.
And then the final insight into God's last book is its extent in its original context. John wrote this Letter to encourage the churches of his time.
As I said earlier, they were undergoing great persecution.
And John authored this letter while he was in exile on the island of Patmos.
It is significant that in 86 AD, Domitian built a temple in Ephesus, claiming to be its chief deity. That is, Domitian claimed to be its chief deity. And at that same time, he forced the people of Ephesus to worship and make sacrifices to him as the emperor. And those are practices that John would have denounced.
And so John was opposed to emperor worship, and his continued preaching of the Gospel ultimately reached the ear of Domitian and prompted him to act.
So, in 94 AD, the 14th year of the reign of Emperor Domitian, the elderly John the Apostle was exiled to that island of Patmos.
But I want us to think about something. The blessing that's pronounced upon the readers in verse three clearly reaches far beyond John's present circumstances.
One easily overlooked detail of this blessing is that there are six other similar blessings in the letter, and that makes seven of them.
These are uniquely arranged throughout the book in a chiastic structure. That's a pattern that's prevalent in the Hebrew language. And I can't really explain that to you without you being able to see it. And so if you'd like to know what the chiastic structure looks like, I have a diagram of this. I'd be happy to share it with you either by mail or email.
And this feature convinces me that John most likely received the revelation of Jesus in the Hebrew language and then it was later translated into Greek.
That conclusion influences the pronouncement of the blessing.
You know, the Hebrew language does not have a word that means obey in the same sense that it does in English.
I believe it is the definition of the Hebrew word shema that John has in mind here.
While this Hebrew verb is often translated as hear, it means much more than just hearing or listening or something audible. It means to hear and to respond appropriately.
So when the Bible says that Moses heard Yahweh, it means that he heard him and he acted upon what he heard. And when the Bible says that God listened to the people, it meant that he heard them, and then he acted upon what he heard.
And so our text says, blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who are keeping those things that are written in it, for the time is near.
Now, hopefully, as I read this verse, you caught that the one who reads is in the active singular, while those who hear are in the active plural. And that fits precisely with what we know about the times in which John lived.
Incidentally, there are some people who have tried to date John's exile before 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Why?
Because they claim that these prophecies were fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed.
However, the verse we are looking at which pronounces a blessing on the readers helps us in this regard.
Marvin Vincent informs us that the practice of reading the apostolic writings didn't exist before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
First of all, the blessing is pronounced on the one who publicly reads the words of this prophecy.
As you might recall, books were unknown at this time, so John expected his letter to be read aloud in the various assemblies of believers that he wrote to.
You may recall that when Timothy was serving as an elder in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul gave him some explicit instructions on this very thing. He said, till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine that reading is a public reading of the Scriptures at Robertson comments on this Today, the public reading of the Bible is an important part of our worship that is often poorly done.
It's sad, but I have to agree with him. I've heard it many times.
However, I believe that the blessing pronounced here is still valid and it applies to a personal reading of the text as well as the public reading.
And then, further, to eliminate any misunderstanding, the hearers and the keepers form one class of people.
To keep is a word that's peculiar to John and is characteristic of revelation as of other writings. In the singular sense of keeping.
It focuses on the exercise of active and strenuous care rather than watching over something to preserve it. And what are they keeping?
Are keeping the things that are written in the book.
In the final chapter, John highlights the importance of this obedience and how it provides entrance into the holy city and access to the Tree of Life.
This section closes with these words because the time is at hand.
In other words, the time of the fulfillment of these things is near.
I want to contrast these words of Jesus with the words given to the prophet in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 4.
There the angel said to him, but you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.
However, some may object that this message about the time being near was given approximately 2,000 years ago.
Well, as I said earlier, that's our human perspective. But the eternal God exists outside of time.
Furthermore, the word the angel gave to John is Kairos, not Kranos. Kairos is defined as the rite or opportune time.
This usage connects us logically with the phrase of verse one, the things which must shortly come to pass.
So in the Western world we are obsessed with Chronos, with the clock and the calendar.
Kairos time involves waiting on the Lord and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance. And especially during this unprecedented season of waiting.
When you take the kairos time perspective, you can see the world through a different lens. It doesn't depend on the clock. It relies on the right moments that fit within God's plan.
I believe that understanding can foster more patience and steadfastness in us during our moments of waiting.
It gives us time to align our heart and mind with God's perfect timing.
Jesus intends these words from God's last book to be words of comfort and words of encouragement, but they're also words of admonition and warning.
The next great event on God's prophetic calendar is the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His bride, the Church.
Our task is to remain obedient and expectant.
The content of the Book of Revelation is clearly prophetic. It describes things that must come to pass before the climax of human history, as we know is authenticated by none other than Jesus Christ, who sent his angel to give the revelation to John.
And finally, the extent of God's last book is expressed in the blessing that is pronounced on those who read and hear and strive to obey the words of this prophecy given by our Savior.
Let me close with a few questions.
What is your relationship with the true God, the God of the Holy Scriptures?
Do you know him personally? If you do, what is your relationship to God's last book? This book of Revelation, is it a book you avoid?
If so, you're cutting yourself off from a special blessing.
So I hope you can join me for each episode of my teaching from God's last book.
There is so much more you and I can learn together.
May Jesus Christ be magnified.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Thank you, JMarc. It's true that Revelation has many interesting aspects, and not the least of which is the blessing for reading it. We can all be comforted that God has the past, present and future under his control.
I hope this series is a blessing to you.
Send us your comments, concerns and prayer requests to hope heraldsofhope.org or you can call us by phone at 866-960-0292 and our mailing address is the Voice of Hope, 6183 Lincoln Highway, Harrisonville, PA 17228.
And don't forget you're welcome to listen to past episodes or explore more Bible based content right on our
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Your prayers and support make this ministry possible and we're thankful for each one who walks with us as we share the good news of the Jesus Christ around the world.
Keep tuning in for more Bible teaching and encouragement right here on the Voice of Hope.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: My world, the world of Sam See to the soul and the word of my heart shall not.
